HOUSTON - Sophomore pitcher Michael Goodnight struck out eight batters, guiding the University of Houston baseball team to a 4-2 win over Sam Houston State Tuesday night at Cougar Field.

Goodnight went 5.2 scoreless innings in his eighth start of the season, giving up five hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. He improves to 4-3 on the mound.

The Cougars backed their pitcher up scoring their first run of the game in the fourth inning. Zak Presley led off the inning with a single to center field and advanced to second on Joel Ansley's single through the right side. Caleb Ramsey's sacrifice bunt put the two runners in scoring position, before Chris Wallace grounded out to shortstop, plating Presley for the 1-0 lead.

Austin Gracey led off a three-run seventh inning for the Cougars, reaching base on an error by SHSU shortstop Ryan Mooney. Ryan Still grounded out to the pitcher but moved Gracey a base before Blake Kelso was intentionally walked, putting two runners on base. The duo then scored on the next at bat, an Ansley single to left field. Ramsey capped the Cougar scoring, plating Ansley on a single to third base.

The Bearkats made things interesting, scoring two runs in the eighth inning, but Houston ended the comeback and went on to earn the win. Houston improves to 13-14 on the season and 74-73 all-time against Sam Houston State.

UP NEXT
Houston will continue its home stand with a three-game series against No. 12 TCU on April 9-11. The first two games of the series start at 6:30 p.m. and the finale on Sunday will begin at 1 p.m.